Sidney Poitier was the first African-American man to win an Academy Award. He was nominated for the best actor award, and he won for his role in Lilies of the Field (1963).
He also received a lifetime achievement award on the same night Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won their Oscars in 2002.
(AP Photo)
Sidney Poitier is 94 years old today.
An American-born Bahamian actor, film director, author and diplomat, in 1963 Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field.
The significance of this achievement was later bolstered in 1967 when he starred in three successful films: To Sir, with Love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. They made him the top box-office star of that year. In all three films, issues revolve around the race of the characters Poitier portrays.
In 1999, the American Film Institute named Poitier among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 22nd on the list of 25.
Poitier has directed a number of popular movies, such as A Piece of the Action, Uptown Saturday Night, Let's Do It Again (with friend, Bill Cosby) and Stir Crazy (starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder).
In 2002, thirty-eight years after receiving the Best Actor Award, Poitier was chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive an Honorary Award, designated "To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being."
From 1997 to 2007, he served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan. On August 12, 2009, Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States of America's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama.
Here, Poitier in the classic, “They call me Mr. Tibbs” scene, from 1967’s “In the Heat of the Night”